VINDICATED
by wallflowerxiii
Summary: Before dying, Raito is given one last chance to set things right and unexpectedly gets sent back in time to when he first discovered the Death Note.
1. Hope Dangles on a String

_Author's Note: _There **will **be **spoilers** for both the manga and the anime. So, if you don't want it to be ruined, DO NOT READ. Also if the readers want there to be any sort of romance, request it, and I'll see what I can do.

_Summary:_ Before dying, Raito is given one last chance to set things right and unexpectedly gets sent back in time to when he first received the death note.

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED AS OF 3/22/09. PLEASE RE-READ!**

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VINDICATED**

Chapter 1: Prologue: Hope Dangles On a String

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_//If you had the chance to undo the past, what things would you do differently?//_

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Raito was dying.

In the background there was shooting and yelling and vaguely, he heard someone begging. Only to find that it was his own voice—he was the one begging and that shocked him.

He wasn't the type to beg.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

When he was younger, he had always thought of dying a heroic death, one where he'd die knowing that he saved someone, or for something he believed in.

At the moment, Raito was screaming, pleading for his life at the feet of his very enemies. He was a murderer, a liar, and a fraud. There were no friends by his side, only those he had betrayed and manipulated at one point in time.

This wasn't how he wanted to die.

But he could feel it coming. Death, that is, imminent and inevitable. And he wondered if this was how all of his victims felt in those mere forty seconds; in the back of his mind, he wondered if this was how L felt.

L.

There were few things that Raito would admit to regretting. Murdering innocent people. Betraying his family. Killing L…

'_If I was given the chance…'_

_5…_

_4…_

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

'_I would do things differently.'_

Yagami Raito closed his eyes and saw black.

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_//We shall give you the second chance you long for.//_

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_Author's Note: _The truth is, I didn't like how Death Note ended. Hell, I didn't like the fact that L died in the first place! So this is my little AU fic about a 'what if' sort of thing.

**3/22/08: Not too many changes in the prologue, just a few cases of re-wording. **

Please review! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.


	2. Like Slow Spinning Redemption

_Disclaimer: _I forgot this in the first chapter, although I think everyone already knows… I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE, or _a_ death note, but I own the story at least, right?

Right?

_AN: _This story is officially L/Raito.

'_Font'_- Character thoughts, mostly just Raito's.

**CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED AS OF 3/22/09. PLEASE RE-READ! **

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VINDICATED**

Chapter 2: Like Slow Spinning Redemption

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_//Humans will surely die one day. Nothingness awaits them after death. //_

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When Raito opened his eyes again, he saw darkness.

'_Am I dead? No…'_

He lifted his hands in front of his face. They were still there, and he could still move them. _'But what does that mean?'_

Using them to feel around himself, he found that he was lying on something soft, and distinctly familiar. _'A bed?' _He then lifted himself up by the elbows and looked around. It was a room, his old room.

He sat up straighter and looked down at his own form. His skin was paler, and softer looking. When he tried stretching his arms, he found that he could do so, but with much difficulty. It was like he was making himself stretch much farther than he knew he could.

Suddenly he heard a voice calling out his name, and after listening to it closely, he found with much bewilderment that it was his sister, Sayu.

"ONII-CHAN!!"

Something inside of Raito's head clicked, just as his bedroom door opened and his sister barged in with her hands at her hips. When she saw that he was already awake, she changed her stance and crossed her arms.

"If you were already awake, you could have just said so."

Raito could only stare at his younger sister in surprise, his mouth agape.

"Onii-chan?"

'…'

Sayu took a few steps closer to her brother and waved a hand in front of his face, only to find that his strange, shocked expression remained. "You're acting very weird," she then paused and a thoughtful look appeared on her face as she looked back at her brother.

"Ne, Onii-chan," she began slowly, "Are you…on drugs?"

'…'

'…_?'_

'…_What?'_

Taking his silence as a yes, she began to wail her arms in surprise and screech, "NANI? ONII-CHAN'S ON DRUGS?"

"W-wait, Sayu," He began pathetically and reached out to stop her but could only watch as his sister ran out of his bedroom, and from the sounds of her stomping feet, down the stairs to inform their mother.

He stared at the doorway with wide eyes, his forgotten hand, meant to stop his sister, was left lingering in the air pitifully.

Still slightly confused and somewhat in denial, he slowly lifted himself off the bed and onto unsteady legs. Shifting from one foot to another so as to test them, he took one step forward, only to teeter forward and off balance to the floor.

And this was the time his mother and sister chose to enter.

With one look at her brother's prone form on the ground, Sayun turned to her mother in affirmation, "See!"

"Raito-kun! Is it true?" By his mother's shocked voice, she could only mean the drugs.

"No," came his strained voice, as he slowly raised himself off the ground.

"My friend from school had a cousin who did drugs. She said that denial was one of the first stages to permanent drug use," Sayu informed her mother.

'_That's not true.' _

Sachiko stared at her daughter in apprehension, "And what happened to her cousin?"

Sayu gave her brother, who was now standing, an odd look and said in an offhanded manner, "Oh, he died."

Raito's head snapped up at the words.

As his mother and sister began discussing the subject of drugs, Raito crossed his arms in thought.

'_I'm dead. I know I'm dead.' _

His hands gripped the side of his arms as if to convince himself that he was truly there. _'Then why?'_

_- _

_//We shall give you the second chance you long for. //_

-

Questions raced through his mind. _'Could it be that I've…truly been sent back in time?'_

'_And if so, by whom?'_

He closed his eyes and could picture the scene of his death, and could almost hear Ryuk's bitter laughter after writing down his name in the Death Note…

'_The Death Note!'_

He glanced at his watch, which remained loyally at his left wrist, and saw that he was already an hour late to class. _'If I really have been sent back to the past, then…today's the day I first find the Death Note.'_

Raito narrowed his eyes slightly and walked out of his bedroom, heading towards the bathroom, ignoring his mother and sister once more as they stared at his back in wonder.

-**x**-

Closing the door behind him and securely locking it, he trudged toward the sink only to find himself face to face with his own reflection.

He leaned toward the mirror in disbelief and rested his arms on either side of the sink to look closer. Same hair, same face, same skin. But his eyes…

They were much different than he remembered them to be.

Darker. Wiser. Sharper.

They were the only things that Raito could recognize about himself.

'_Could this truly be happening?'_

He turned on the faucet and watched as the water washed down the drain, before thoroughly washing his face. Lifting his head up once more, he met his own gaze solidly in his reflection, and stared.

"This…isn't possible," Raito murmured to himself softly and shuddered at the foreign, more youthful sound of his voice.

'_What did they think they would achieve…by bringing me back?'_ He remembered the distant and fading voices.

'_Did they think that I would suddenly turn good? That I'd somehow changed my mind and start over? I might have my regrets, but that doesn't mean that anything else has changed. I am still the same person I was before…right?'_

He was startled out of his reverie by the rattling of the bathroom door and the sound of his sister shouting. "ONII-CHAN! You're going to be late!"

Raito let out a sigh. "When Ryuk said that users of the Death Note would neither go to Heaven or Hell," he muttered to himself, "I doubt that he meant this."

He slowly opened the door and saw Sayu still standing there.

"I'm not a drug addict."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not fooling anyone, Onii-chan, just admit that you need help."

"All I did was wake up late," he informed her in an effort to convince her of his innocence.

"Onii-chan _never_ wakes up late," she replied back in her sure tone.

Knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument, he only waved his hand at her in dismissal and walked back to his room to change into his school uniform.

"And just thought that you should know," Sayu called out to his retreating form, "You're already late for school."

Raito did not pause as he grabbed his book bag and headed out of the house. "I best be quick then."

-**x**-

As Raito walked down the street in silence, he suddenly realized how uncomfortably quiet it was without the ever so talkative death god floating about behind him, begging for apples.

"It's just not the same," he said aloud, trying to get used to the idea.

When he turned the corner, his eyes wandered over to his left where he saw a dark alleyway, reminding him of the reason why he was there in the first place.

'_I still have to continue purifying this world. I can't let a few doubts stop myself from finishing what I started, but I can't let things happen the way they did before. This time around…I swear I won't let anyone get in my way.' _The thought made him suddenly recall a certain detective.

"How do I go about killing criminals, without getting the police suspicious over the matter like last time? If I want to do things differently, I can't let L get involved." Raito said to himself as he stopped at a crosswalk and watched the cars go by.

'_This time, I'm a hundred steps ahead of you, L.'_

With knowledge of the future, Raito felt empowered and in control. He knew all of L's tricks—his mind games, his traps. And by learning from his past mistakes, he knew that the detective didn't stand a chance against him. No one would be able to stop him.

Not L.

Not Mello.

And most certainly, not Near.

The only thing he needed now was the Death Note.

-**x**-

The teacher was droning on about facts concerning the Feudal Era, things that Raito had already remembered learning years ago.

'_I'm bored.'_

He rested his chin on his palm and observed his fellow classmates, who were, in his opinion, partly to blame for his ultimate demise.

The females were chattering about insignificant matters, others were texting beneath their desks thinking that no one else could see them while the majority of the males were either sleeping or sneaking peaks at dirty magazines and sniggering immaturely after turning another page.

Raito could not help but acknowledge how old he felt compared to his classmates. In the past, he had already recognized how much more mature his mindset was compared to people his age. Now the gap had widened even more.

When was the last time he had acted his own age? The last time he basked in his youth? All he could remember thinking about in high school was the Death Note, killing criminals, trying not to be discovered, and most importantly, defeating L.

And it was then that Raito realized that he had never truly lived his life to the fullest extent. He had only concerned himself with taking others'.

The thought made him uncomfortable. Had he ever truly been happy?

Raito knew life before the Death Note was lackluster. He knew that being Kira had given him a thrill nothing else could give him. The pleasure he got when he would develop a new plan and outsmart L was unparalleled. And when he lost his memories, he knew, that at one point or another, he had enjoyed working sided by side with L, despite the accusations, the arguments, and the suspicions.

And maybe that was it. Maybe it was having another genius, someone who could think and communicate on the same level as him that made Raito enjoy himself so.

It made Raito wonder what would have happened if he had met L prior to finding the Death Note. Would the result have been the same? Would he have wanted the same things?

He let out a sigh of relief when he heard the bell ring loudly and clearly.

"That's it for today, class, remember to copy down the homework on the board and have it finished by tomorrow."

As Raito packed up his things, he glanced out the window briefly to the spot in the courtyard where he knew the notebook was to be.

'_Right now I have to focus on other things. I have to find the Death Note before anyone else does.'_

Just as he was about to exit the classroom, a guy rampaging down the hallway in a hurry rammed into him. Raito did not recognize him, but there was something about him that made him pause mid-step.

His hair was black and disheveled, looking like it hadn't been washed for days. The uniform he wore was wrinkly and had noticeably large pinkish stains on it, while as his shoes were untied and placed on the wrong feet.

In the briefness of the moment, he was suddenly reminded of L, but immediately shook the image out of his head just as soon as it popped up.

'_If things go the way I plan, I won't be meeting L this time around.'_

Something inside of his chest clenched at the thought, but he dismissed it as irrelevant. But he couldn't help but feeling as though he had lost something important.

The student looked up in surprise. "Oh, sorry."

Raito smiled pleasantly back, trying to not let his face contort in disgust at the smell of cigarette smoke coming from the other male. "It's okay."

With a nod and curious second look at Raito, the whirlwind of a student passed by him, and he began making his way out of the school and onto the courtyard.

He wandered toward the shaded area of the grass and kneeled down to further search for the little notebook, only to find that it was nowhere to be seen. Narrowing his eyes he scanned the grass more thoroughly. Still nothing.

Raito frowned and stood back up, his eyes still continuing to search for the missing notebook.

Then, a scream broke out from behind him. "LEIKO-CHAN! HELP! PLEASE! SHE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!"

A feeling of dread overtook him as he slowly turned around and saw with wide eyes as a girl began clawing at her chest wildly as her friend panicked beside her.

Only, Raito knew for a fact that the female named Leiko was not experiencing any sort of seizure, but a heart attack. Just as he knew that in the next forty seconds, she would no longer be breathing.

He did a mental countdown and by the time he reached zero, just like that, she fell limply to the ground, her eyes large and glassy.

As students began to crowd about her and shouts exploded in fear and confusion began, Raito stood silently in the background clenching and unclenching his fists, one word slipping passed his lips in panic.

"_Shit_."

-**x**-

When Raito came home that evening, he was greeted by one frantic sister, and two equally worried parents.

"Raito!" Souichirou exclaimed in relief, "We heard about the girl in the news. Is everything okay?"

He tried hard to look at his father with a straight face, but after everything that had transpired between them, Raito didn't think it possible. So, he only answered with a quick nod of the head.

Sayu grabbed his arm from the side, tearing Raito's attention away from his father to look down at her.

"I'm sorry that I accused you of doing drugs!" The comment earned a curious look from the chief. "Just please don't drop dead anytime soon-!" She stopped suddenly then, sniffing her brother's arm slightly, and immediately let go of it with her face scrunched up in distaste.

"Onii-chan! You smell like cigarette smoke! If this is what I think it is…" She trailed off looking over to their mother for support.

Raito had the sudden urge to ram his head into a wall. _'That guy who ran into me!'_

He held his hands up in defense. "Look. I was definitely not doing what you think I was doing."

Souichirou looked at his son closely. "Raito, is there something you wish to tell us?"

'_Yes, as a matter of fact, I am really from the year 2009 where I'm known to kill criminals by writing their name down in a notebook owned by a shinigami! But don't worry because I can't do that anymore seeing as how I'm also supposed to be dead!'_

"Not anything of significance," he replied.

"Onii-chan has been acting very strangely since this morning," Sayu informed their father in a knowing tone, "He even missed class!"

Souichirou looked greatly surprised at this. "Missing class? Raito?"

"Also," she continued, ignoring the irritated look Raito was shooting her, "I found this weird chain with handcuffs next to his bed."

"W-what?" Raito stuttered aloud. _'Handcuffs? Chain? Don't tell me that…'_

"Yeah," Sayu turned to look at him suspiciously, "Drugs? Cigarettes? Handcuffs? Onii-chan, I think you have a serious problem. Go. Get. Help."

Raito could only stare at her in alarm, which he quickly tried to hide from his facial expression in an attempt to remain in character. "You've got it all wrong," he received several incredulous looks, "Really, it's the truth. I'm not into any of that stuff."

"…Raito-," Sachiko began.

"-Besides," He said, cutting his mother off, "Shouldn't we be worrying more about the certain murder of my classmate?"

"Murder?" Souichirou questioned, "The news said it was a heart attack!"

'_Dammit.'_

Raito feigned confusion. "Did I say murder? I meant heart attack."

His father looked at him weirdly but didn't say anything more on the matter, and Raito took this time to explain to them what he had seen in the courtyard.

Sayu looked thoughtful at that. "So she really just dropped dead?"

Raito nodded, but in his head he was making a list of possible suspects, mentally crossing some out and then adding others back on. _'I should just ask that friend of hers if she knows anyone with a motive without giving away that fact that it was actually a murder. I'm pretty sure I've dated her before…maybe I have her number?'_

As Raito racked his brain for the girl's name, he excused himself to go to his bedroom to prepare for his late night Prep courses. His father and mother only nodded while Sayu shot him a shrewd look in which he returned with a look of innocence.

'_Haruko? No, Keiko? That's not it. Did it start with an 'a'?'_

He walked up the stairs to his bedroom passing his window and sat on the chair next to his desk. His brown eyes gradually wandered over to the foot of his bed where he caught sight of a glint of metal.

'_No way.'_

He rose from his seat and walked on over to where he had seen the glint and bent down to pick up the familiar chain that Sayu had been referring to.

"This is…" Raito trailed off as he gazed down at it. He gripped the chain tightly in his hands feeling the cold metal biting into his skin.

The question from before came racing back full force. _'Who the hell sent me back?'_ He tightened his grip. _'And what was the purpose of sending this back as well?'_

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" He asked softly to himself.

Raito shook his head with a sigh and sat down on the bed still gripping the handcuffs tightly. Suddenly, a feeling of drowsiness overtook him. He blinked rapidly and fought hard to stay awake, but before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

-**x**-

_Raito felt someone nudging him awake, but he couldn't seem to open his eyes. _

**'Wake up.'**

_There was a hand on his shoulder and he tried shrugging it off, but it wouldn't budge. Shifting slightly, without opening his eyes, he raised his arm to push the hand off but found that something cold and familiar restrained his arm._

_He opened his eyes and was shocked at what he saw. It was...himself._

_His mirror image smiled slightly and waved his arm to show the chain that Raito recognized to be L's was handcuffing the two of them together. Looking around, he found that they were in some sort of white abyss, making the teen come to the conclusion that he was in some sort of dream._

**'Yes, you're right. This is, in fact, a dream.' **_The other Raito informed him as if reading his thoughts._

_Raito looked up at him in masked surprise from his spot on what he assumed to be the ground. Most people upon seeing a look alike image of themselves would probably panic, but Raito being well, Raito, reacted calmly as if it was an every day matter. And it seemed as though that the other Raito knew this as well and took it into consideration._

**'Look, I'll just get straight to the point,' **_the look alike stated_**, 'I'm you...'**_ Raito threw him a look of disbelief_**, '...from roughly five years ago,'**_ he continued_**, 'You know, before you decided to kill off a good portion of the human race for your slightly psychotic need to be God?'**

_Raito stared at him indifferently with one eyebrow raised. _**'The **_**unneeded**_** portion of the human race.'**

_His past self waved his hand at the comment. _**'**_**That**_** is what I need to talk with you about. I'm here to try and reason with you.'**

**'Are you claiming to be my conscience?'** _The future Raito seemed to be trying to fight off a smirk that was slowly forming on his face. _

**'Call me what you wish, **_**Kira**_**.'**

_Raito schooled his expression so that his reaction to the name went unnoticed. It didn't matter, however, the other Raito knew what effect the name had on him. _**'How are we speaking right now? Why am I having a dream of my past self?'**

_At this, the past Raito looked angry._ **'Since you were sent back in time, the real Raito that would have been occupying this body during the time had to be sent somewhere.'**

'**And that would be you.'**

'**Yes.'**

'**And where **_**exactly **_**were you sent?'**

'**Into this dreamscape, I suppose.'**_He motioned to the white area around them. _

_Raito looked around them, at the endless, white space and couldn't help but feel a spark of guilt. He couldn't imagine what it would be like living here._ **'Is it always like this?'**

'**No. In fact, since you've taken over my body, I've been able to conjure up your memories and replay them here. It's similar to a movie actually. Only I am able to feel what you were feeling and hear what you were thinking.' **_The other Raito looked away from him and a thoughtful expression surfaced._ **'I saw everything through your eyes.'**

_The very fact that this other Raito had viewed all of his memories made him feel almost violated. _**'Everything?'**

_The other Raito's face darkened at that. _**'Everything, up until your death.'**

'**And what is your opinion on the matter?'**

'**I think you are insane.' **

_Raito stared at him incredulously. _**'Insane am I? And what does that make **_**you**_**?'**

_The other shrugged. _**'Well, seeing as how I still become you, and we are technically still the same person, I would have to say that I have the potential to be insane. However, I'm not quite,'**_ he gestured toward Raito_**, '...**_**you**_** yet.'**

_Raito only laughed. _**'**_**Yet**_**,'**_ he emphasized. _

**'Well, considering that you now hold possession over my body, I would have to say that I never **_**will**_** turn into you.' **_The other Raito clenched his fist, _**'I'll never get the chance.' **

_Raito did not reply. There was nothing he could really say. In all actuality, he had stolen this Raito's present and future, and there was no way he could give it back. _

'**I suppose I should be thankful, though, for not turning into you.' **_His voice turned bitter. _**'After seeing what you've done, I would rather die than become you.'**

'**What I've done?'** _Raito asked, his voice rising. _**'What I've done is sanitize this corrupted world filled with criminals, liars, and frauds! What I've done is eradicate all those who had killed, tortured, and raped innocent people! I made the world a better, safer place! I saved people!'**

'**Stop playing yourself to be such a selfless person! You can't fool me. I've seen everything, remember? What you've done is kill hundreds of innocent people! What you've done is manipulate your so-called friends and family into your web of lies. What you've done…is nothing short of evil. You are such a hypocrite. You claim to have saved people, when in reality, you were just saving yourself.'**

_Before Raito could say anything, the other Raito interrupted gravely, _**'Is this really how you are going spend your second chance?'**_He stood up while yanking the chain causing Raito to stand up as well_**, 'Look at me,' **_he pointed to his chest_**, 'and then look at yourself,' **_he gestured toward Raito_**, 'There is a significant difference between the two of us, and yet we are the same person. The changes, the beliefs...we are opposites now.'**

_Raito crossed his arms_**, 'Your point?'**

**'The Death Note changed you into something you definitely did not want to be. Do you recall your last thoughts before you died?' **_The mirror image Raito inquired knowingly as Raito looked away._

**'You regretted it. You regretted what you had become, where you had ended up, and the murders that you had committed,' **_he paused_**, 'Remember?'**

_Raito remained silent, refusing to remember his one moment of weakness._

**'You asked for a second chance, Raito,' **_his past self said, making his tone softer and less harsh_**, 'Are you going to spend it making the same mistakes you did before?'**

_Raito opened his mouth to answer but found that he could not. His vision was slowly slipping and he could see the world getting darker as his past self stood over him with a mixed expression of both hope and distress, his eyes piercing as he mouthed the word_**, 'Redemption.'**

-**x**-

Raito then woke up on his bed in cold sweat, left hand still somehow handcuffed, and suddenly feeling doubtful and very unsure of himself.

_

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AN: _Raito's officially been sent back, but despite his regrets from the previous chapter, he is still convinced that he was doing the right thing all along. However, after a dream encounter with his _'light'_ side, he is left questioning his past, his actions, and especially his self.

_Next chapter: _A distressed Raito, an awkward date, a death, and a very unexpected reunion.

**3/22/09: After reading through this chapter a few times, I edited and changed what I could without doing anything too drastic. I found that many of Light's thoughts and actions were very OOC, and that alone frustrated me to no end. I hope that you enjoy the newly edited version of chapter two!**

Please Review!


	3. Winding in and Winding Out

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Death Note, and the lyrics belong to Dashboard Confessional.

_AN: _This story is officially L/Raito.

'_Font'_ – Character thoughts, mostly just Raito's dirty musings. Haha.

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED AS OF 3/22/09. PLEASE RE-READ!**

**

* * *

VINDICATED**

Chapter 3: Winding In and Winding Out

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_// Regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow are twin thieves that rob us of the moment. //_

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It took Raito almost the entire morning to try and explain to his parents why he slept through his Prep courses, and it took even longer to try and convince Sayu that there was no ghastly motive in his hand being handcuffed.

When he finally ushered them all out of his room, Raito took the next few minutes wondering how the chain got there in the first place, and how he was planning to take them off.

'_Of course they wouldn't think of sending the key back with me as well.'_ He sighed as he ran a hand through his tousled hair.

"What to do," Raito wondered aloud as he glanced about the room looking for any means of assistance in the removal of the cursed chain.

Finding none, he let out another frustrated sigh and resorted to getting ready for school.

'_Speaking of which, I've got to find that girl's friend and set up a date to find more information about any leading suspects for the owner of the Death Note…'_

His line of thinking caused him to recall the dream occurrence from the night before and he couldn't help but shudder at the thought of his past self and that accusing expression on his face before waking up.

"Redemption," Raito murmured to himself, "That's what he had said."

His eyebrows furrowed and his hands paused while in the process of removing his shirt.

'_Can I do it? Do I even want to?'_

The questions remained unanswered as he shook his head and continued getting dressed for school.

Before setting off, Raito set down his school bag and briefly took off his blazer, before taking a hold of the bothersome chain restricting his left hand and wrapping it around his arm.

He slipped the blazer back on, grabbed his bag once more, and made his way through the gate in front of his house.

**-x-**

The entire school was still distressing over the girl's death, which didn't surprise nor bother Raito much. In fact, he thought of it as an advantage.

'_While people are still mourning over her so-called 'genetic' heart attack, they won't take much notice in me investigating.'_

It was almost disconcerting how the young woman's death did not disturb Raito in the slightest, and that he was rather looking at the tragedy as just another benefit in his growing plan. As Raito noted this, he was reminded of his dream once again.

'_Was he right? Am I a bad person? Does it…does it even matter?'_

He scanned the crowd of students for any sign of the girl's friend, and successfully spotted her not meters away from him walking alone, to what looked to be, her first class.

Casually, Raito treaded toward her, all the while still trying to remember what her name was.

By the time he was a few feet a way from her, he finally remembered.

'_Aiko. Kishi Aiko.'_

He smirked to himself, before approaching her and slipping on a mask of sympathy.

"Kishi-san," Raito called softly from behind her, watching her slowly turn to face him revealing a pale face and red eyes.

He wondered why the broken expression on her face didn't stir any guilty feelings from within him, and he pondered whether he really was as soulless as his past self made him out to be.

"I am so deeply sorry for your loss. I know you and…" _'What was her name?'_ "…Leiko-san, were very good friends."

At the mention of the other girl's name, Aiko sniffed and her eyes began to water. Raito resisted the urge to smirk in triumph. _'This is way too easy.'_

"Yagami-san, you were…on a first name basis with," sniff, "Leiko-chan?" The brunette gazed at him expectantly, and Raito easily came up with an excuse to make up for his slip up.

"Yes, of course. I admit to asking her out for a couple of drinks not so long ago. It is very unfortunate that this was to happen. She was a really…wonderful person. I wanted nothing more than to get to know her better, but it seems now, I won't," he paused and closed his eyes in feigned regret, "…be able to get that chance."

Aiko fell for it instantly. And Raito could tell by the way her eyes stared at him in understanding.

He really was _too_ good of an actor sometimes.

'_Though, I never did fool L.'_ Raito mentally scolded himself at the thought.

Widening his eyes for more effect, he went in for the kill, "I can't help but ask, since I feel only you, being her best friend, can understand how I truly feel, but…would you mind…meeting me after school for some coffee?"

"Of course," she replied straight away, "I'll meet you here after school."

Raito smiled almost shyly at her in that way he _knew_ would make her melt. "Arigatou, Kishi-san, this means a lot to me."

She reached and took his hand in hers. "Please, Yagami-kun, call me Aiko."

He knew all too well how to play this game. "Only if you call me Raito in return."

"Raito-kun then," she agreed.

"I will see you after school then, Aiko-san," he returned in equal politeness, and watched knowingly as she walked on with a small smile on her face.

The 'teen' shook the urge to smirk at his success, and made his way toward his next class.

**-x-**

In a dark room located on the thirteenth floor of an inconspicuous hotel in Tokyo, Japan, a dark-haired figure sat oddly in front of a laptop, fingers moving rapidly on the keyboard as he searched website after website hoping to find something that would perk his interest.

_'Hmm. There were fifty-three people that died yesterday in Tokyo only. Not too unusual considering the high death rate recently, in yet…'_

His black eyes scanned a page listing all fifty-three people and causes of deaths, a certain one catching his eye.

_'Name: Nakamura Leiko. Age: 17. Cause of Death: Heart Attack?'_

He examined the rest of the girl's profile and frowned. _'How could a girl of only seventeen who was perfectly healthy and whom had no hereditary history of heart attack suddenly die of it? Strange.'_

Fingers tapped curiously on the keyboard before reaching over to the power button and shutting the computer down.

The figure paused for a few moments as his hand dropped to his stomach.

"I'm hungry."

**-x-**

A thought suddenly occurred to Raito as he weaved his way through crowds of students towards the school's exit to meet Aiko for their 'date'. _'If I __**were **__to seek some so-called redemption, what would that accomplish? Criminals would still keep killing, the people of this world wouldn't change, and I would just be a normal student doing nothing to help.'_

That line of thinking made him frown.

_'How could what I was doing be so wrong if I was indeed helping to improve society? And if the end result were, in fact, a perfect utopia where there was no violence, no crime, why would the deaths of hundreds of ruthless criminals be so much of a problem?'_

The question confused him in more ways than one. Raito recalled that the police force tried so hard to take Kira down when even statistics showed that the presumed merciless killer had actually _helped_ reduce the crime rate.

_'I pretty much did their job __**for**__ them. A lot of the people that I killed had life sentences anyway, and when you look at it that way, I was merely putting them out of their misery.' _

Although all of his reasoning seemed logical in his mind, he couldn't help but wonder why so many people seemed to be so opposed to it. Just when he was about to delve further into it, he heard his name being called.

"Raito-kun."

Acting quickly to not show any indication of what he was thinking before, Raito plastered a pleasant smile on his face when he turned to greet her. "Aiko-san! Are you ready to go?"

The brunette smiled softly at him. "Of course. And where to, might I ask?"

"There's this nice coffee shop where I go to sometimes to relax and think. It's a very peaceful environment, the perfect place to go to talk," Raito informed making light conversation as he led her off school grounds and towards their destination.

Aiko nodded in affirmation and followed him all too happily down the sidewalk. Raito watched her out of the corner of his eye.

_'She looks entirely different than she did this morning. All I did was ask her out on a date and she seems to forget all about her best friend dying.' _Raito hid his disgust. '_And this is yet another reason why I should continue being Kira, so that I can rid the world of such fake people.'_

When they reached the shop, Raito opened the door for her. _'But then…what does that make me?' _

It was another disturbing thought, one that hadn't even occurred to Raito before. Could even _he _fit the high standards of living in his own utopia? _'I want to rid the world of killers, and yet…I __**am **__one. That's about as hypocritical as one can get. Could my past self be right?'_

He reluctantly left his mental battle to escort his female companion to his favorite seat in the very back of the coffee shop, the same exact place in which he and L had sat after their tennis match.

"This place is secluded from the rest of the store," Raito felt the familiar words leave his mouth, "so that no one can hear what we are about to discuss."

He was treating this date as if it was the same when he was with L. Though, he could hardly call L's interrogation a date, the fact that that was exactly what he was doing still irked him.

Raito seriously did not want to continue pondering over the matter, and was thankful for his line of thinking to be cut off when a waiter came up.

"What can I get you?" A scratchy female voiced asked politely. Raito turned to look at Aiko who asked for an iced mocha before asking for some plain, black coffee for himself.

When the waiter left their table, Raito decided that it was a good time to get started on his information gathering.

"Thank you again for coming to do this with me," he began.

"Its no problem," Aiko replied, "any friend of …Leiko-chan is a friend of mine."

Raito noted that there was a slight hesitation before she had said her friend's name. _'Maybe she isn't as heartless as I made her out to be.'_

"Everyone at school is still very broken up about her fatality. I don't think I know of anyone who didn't feel any sort of sympathy toward the matter. I mean, who _didn't_ enjoy Leiko-san's company?" Raito looked at the girl sitting across from him expectantly. It was a casual question and its answer was the only thing he was really looking for.

And sure enough, Aiko's face scrunched up in disgust, "I could think of a few people."

Raito feigned surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "In fact, there is a select group of individuals whom I'm sure are glad that she's gone. It's sad really."

"Who?" He tried not to seem too eager.

Aiko wasted no time going into detail. "Leiko-chan used to be a regular in the drug dealing circle. The circle consists of five students that go to our school. They keep to themselves and don't tend to socialize; the only one I know of is Sato Kiyoshi, Leiko's ex-boyfriend."

Raito mentally added the name into his list of suspects.

"Sato Kiyoshi? That name sounds familiar," he thought aloud.

"Yeah, he's-" She stopped abruptly.

Raito glanced up at her with narrowed eyes. "Aiko-san?" He called out cautiously. _'Don't tell me…'_

She began shaking violently, and in an instant, Raito knew what he had to do, jumping out of his seat, he cried out. "Somebody help!" Playing his part as the worried friend. "My friend is having a heart attack!"

Answering his cry several people within the coffee shop ran to the table, shouts were exclaimed, but he knew they could do nothing to save her.

As the commotion began, his eyes darted around the vicinity looking for anyone that went to their school, someone carrying a notebook even, but could see no one that fit the criteria.

By the time the forty seconds passed, the entire occupancy of the shop had crowded the lifeless female. Raito remained rooted at his spot beside her.

"An ambulance is on its way," a voice from behind informed him. Raito froze instantly at the familiarity of it. "Though, by the looks of it, she's already dead."

The metal encasing his arm felt cold, as Raito slowly turned around to stare into wide black orbs that he knew all too well were carefully analyzing, calculating, and observing everything and everyone around him.

_'L.'_

Raito nodded stiffly in his direction. The detective looked exactly the same as he did the day he died. From disheveled raven hair, pale skin, and dark bags under black eyes formed from lack of sleep, to the same white long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.

And, there was no surprise when he saw that there was a plate of half-eaten strawberry cake in one hand, and a silver fork held in that peculiar way of his in the other.

The image was disconcerting and Raito fought to keep up his act. "Thank you."

L tilted his head to the side, "You're welcome…" He trailed off expectantly.

Raito knew instantly that this was a ploy to get his name so that it could be filed away for later use if needed, and he wasted no time in answering, "Yagami Raito."

_'It would be even more suspicious to use a fake name.'_

"Yagami…" L repeated softly to himself unknowingly informing Raito that L was thinking of his father Yagami Souichirou, chief of police. "It is unfortunate that we are to meet under such circumstances."

The comment reminded Raito that he should be in a state of shock, or at least in some form of grieving and he turned his gaze back to the body of the girl he was talking with only moments before, so that his back was to L.

"Aiko-san…"

He didn't bother trying to put some kind of emotion into his voice, knowing that L would immediately catch it.

"A classmate of yours?" Raito knew that L had caught the formality that he had added onto the end of her name, or else he would have asked if she was his girlfriend.

The supposed teen turned back to the darker-haired man and watched him as he placed a helpful piece of cake into his mouth.

_'You know, he isn't that much affected by death either. In yet, he died trying to stop me from killing. I wonder what his motive was. What did he get out of all of it? Why did he want to defeat me so badly? Did he truly believe that what I was doing was wrong, or did he just want to win?'_

"Yes, we just met today actually. What I find unusual is that we were here discussing the recent death of her best friend, Nakamura Leiko," Raito watched as recognition flashed across the detective's seemingly blank eyes. Something he would not have been able to catch before. But after so many late nights spent working with this unusual man, Raito found that he could read him more easily than before.

"Did she not too die from a heart attack?" L asked, something in his voice told Raito that he already knew the answer.

"Exactly what I find so strange," Raito replied, "Two young healthy teenage girls die of heart attack, not even a full day apart."

Black eyes turned to him thoughtfully. "You think they are linked?"

This is when it became tricky. If Raito did what he had done before and tried to act completely normal, then L would immediately think that he was acting _too _normal. And if he seemed innocent, then L would think he was _too_ innocent.

L was just paranoid like that. Raito would know, after all, he was the same.

He had found that there was a certain way to talk to L, a way that ensured that he would not discover Raito's secret but at the same time giving him enough reason to suspect him, and the way to do this was to be completely and utterly honest.

In the end, lies had been his downfall.

"I think that there is reason to believe that they were not mere accidents."

"Yet all you have is speculation, Yagami-kun," L pointed out, "They could just be coincidences."

Raito raised a brow at the honorific, but didn't speak up on it. "I don't believe in coincidences."

The ambulance finally arrived and Aiko was being carried off in a stretcher. Raito moved to follow them, but paused at L's voice. "Neither do I."

He cast a sidelong glance to the man in white. "It was nice meeting you. And I thank you for calling the ambulance." He passed by him, following the stretcher out the door.

L watched him leave in mild curiosity, his interest finally piqued. He finished his strawberry cake with a satisfied smile.

_

* * *

AN:_ Raito goes out on his date, but before he gets all the information he needs, his informant dies of an all too expected heart attack. And with the chance reunion with his former rival, he finds that things are going to get more complicated then he originally planned. Will he seek redemption for his actions?

_Next chapter:_ Misled family members, prying detectives, and a club initiation to end all club initiations.

**3/22/09: I cut out a few useless parts that did nothing to advance the plot, edited a few things, and added a few little observations and commentary on Light's part.**

Reviews make for a happy author!


	4. The Shine of Which has Caught My Eye

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Death Note, and the lyrics belong to Dashboard Confessional.

_AN:_ This story is officially L/Raito.

'_Font'_ – Character thoughts, mostly just Raito's, seeing as how it is kind of in his POV.

**THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED AS OF 3/22/09. PLEASE RE-READ!**

**

* * *

VINDICATED**

Chapter 4: The Shine of It has Caught My Eye

-

_//It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world. : The Chaos Theory, otherwise known as the Butterfly Effect // _

-

Raito sat his desk staring blankly at his homework, homework that he vaguely remembered doing five years or so prior. He couldn't concentrate and though he would deny it if anyone had asked him…

The meeting with L had thrown Raito off balance.

He had already decided that he was going to try and avoid the two of them meeting, and the plan had obviously backfired. But the thing was… it was completely accidental. They just chose the exact same place to go, at the exact same time, on the exact same day.

Raito's disbelief over coincidence was waning. It seemed too well planned.

'_Why is he here to begin with? For what reason is he in Tokyo of all places? He's an international detective. Is he working on a case?'_

And then there was the fact that his only informant on the whereabouts of the Death Note was killed, which in truth did not strike Raito as too surprising; he had been expecting it after all.

But now he had to track down the group of drug users she mentioned and discover whether or not they were in possession of the note, which also meant he had to do a bit of digging, nosing, and some pretty well thought-out acting.

'_This is going to be insanely troublesome.' _He rubbed his temples warily.

**-x-**

When L returned to his hotel room, he immediately, as always, went to his computer and turned it on.

It was inevitable really, when the detective brought up a people search and typed in one lone name. With that one brief conversation, the boy got under his skin in a way that no one else had before. The feeling unnerved L just as much as it intrigued him. There was just something about the teen that didn't seem _right,_ and the bells in L's head were ringing in warning.

The results to his search came up and he scanned the page in seconds.

_**Name: **__Yagami, Raito._

_**DOB: **__Jan. 28, 2006_

_**Height: **__179 cm (5'9')_

_**Weight: **__54 kg (119 lbs)_

_**Blood Type: **__A_

_**Occupation: **__Student_

These would be the average results one would get when searching Yagami Raito, and L wasted no time digging further. He hacked into the main website of his high school and looked at his school profile.

There was slight surprise on the detective's face, followed by curiosity, when he discovered the extent of the student's genius. Not only had he never gotten a grade under a hundred percent, but he was obviously favored by the majority of his professors at the look at all the recommendations.

_'Who is more intelligent, I wonder? Raito-kun or I?' _

L imagined a game of chess wherein he was playing against the said boy. He watched himself mentally make the first move, placing a pawn one square forward and observed curiously at how the auburn haired teen across from him mirrored his same move.

-**x**-

There was an advantage of being the most intelligent student at school, other than the fact that he had almost all of the teachers in the school wrapped around his finger; he had access to files restricted to most of the student body.

Which was why he was in the main file room, stealing the profiles of his suspects. His third period teacher thought he was in the library studying for some imaginary exam.

'_Sato Sato?' _

He grabbed an immensely thick file compared to all the rest and eyed it carefully. _'Ah… the drug dealer…and Leiko's ex-boyfriend…'_

With what little evidence he had, Sato seemed to be his prime suspect.

'_This whole thing would be a lot easier if Misa just used her Shinigami eyes on them all.'_

Truthfully, he had almost forgotten about his 'girlfriend', and though his first reaction was to not care at all, a part of him felt a tinge of guilt, which surprised him to say the least.

'_First L, and now Misa? When did I start caring at all?' _Raito furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

'_Speaking of which, if the new Death Note user has the Shinigami eyes I had better watch out. I'm getting too involved.'_

Shrugging it off for the time being, and making a mental note to ponder on the matter later, he was about to leave the room, when interest struck as his eyes landed on the main file room's computer.

He walked toward it and leaned to see that the teacher who had used it last had forgotten to log off. Seeing it as an opportunity, Raito sat in the computer chair, and began to research more on Sato under the name of _Admin. Minamizawa Daisuke._

As he finished scanning the information on his suspect, he became curious.

Clicking on the internet link, slowly, as if unsure, Raito typed in a single letter.

The result was expected; he'd found nothing. Nonsense Internet sites that had nothing to do with the person he was looking for. He didn't know why he even attempted such a meaningless search.

After all, this was **L**. It wasn't likely that he'd be publicized at all.

'_Unless, of course…I narrow down the search to police records…'_

Raito began typing, unable to stop himself. He wasn't quite sure why he was so intent on finding the detective. In fact, he wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for. But subconsciously, he knew why.

It was as though L was challenging him. Taunting him even. As if he was saying, _'catch me if you can.' _The way Raito had done to L in the past.

And Raito was never one to back down from a challenge.

As fast as he was typing, he was already knee-deep in classified police records, but somehow managing to hide his tracks as went from file to file. He was doing quite well, until he happened upon a file entitled the '**Los Angeles ****BB Murder Cases**'.

Curiosity overran sensibility as he clicked on the link without a second thought.

The document was detailed, but down to the point, Raito read it avidly. The case was of a serial murder in Los Angeles.

It was solved by none other then Naomi Misora, working secretly under supervision of L; the same woman whom he had written in the Death Note to commit suicide. It was no wonder why she had figured out his plan so quickly; she had worked with L beforehand.

As he read further, he stopped, eyes widening, when he came across the name of the criminal.

Rue Ryuzaki.

'_That name... L's main alias. Why would he…What was so important about this criminal that he would take on the same name? A personal matter?'_

Resting his chin on his palm he scrolled down to the end of the page until a pop-up box appeared on the screen. It was a chat box.

-

_**unknown: **__you are viewing classified information._

-

'_Damn. How careless of me. Someone's caught on. Now what…?'_

Debating on whether to reply or not, Raito decided to wait and see what the person would write next.

-

_**unknown: **__why this case in particular?_

-

'_Does this case mean something to this person? Is that why he or she put surveillance on it? It's probably set so that when anyone views it, it will alert him or her. Could it be Naomi? Or…maybe L himself?'_

-

_**unknown: **__it would be wise to answer back _

-

'_And why is that?'_

-

_**unknown: **__because if you don't, then i would have to track you down myself._

-

Raito narrowed his eyes. _'What makes you think that you can find me?'_

-

_**unknown: **__you aren't as hard to find as you may think_

-

He glanced down at the clock at the corner of the screen and saw that it was almost time for school to end. Looking back at the chat box, he smirked slightly and typed a single sentence before shutting down the computer.

-

_**---: **__Then go ahead and try._

-**x**-

Raito walked out of the room, files placed safely in his schoolbag, feeling very pleased with himself. So maybe he was being a tad bit overconfident over the whole matter, but he had a right to be.

'_There's no way that guy could find me. I was using another log in, and my fingerprints will be unrecognizable by then. It's hopeless.'_

The bell rang, and he tilted his head slightly to the side so that he could view the students outside pouring into the courtyard out of the corner of his eye as talking began to get louder.

He turned the corner, moving to the side as a pair of girls walked by chatting animatedly, and spotted a dark lit hallway to his right. _'I might as well.' _He immediately made his way down it and noticed how all of the noise seemed to drift away.

A bitter odor began to be very apparent, and he refrained from rolling his eyes at the stupidity of his classmates for being so blatantly obvious, as he stopped in front of a door with an upside down men's bathroom sign.

Before pushing open the door, he looked down at his neat attire. _'Would it be smart to walk in looking like this? I definitely don't look like a drug user.'_

The thought made him think of his suspicious family and he sighed before going ahead and opening the door.

Once inside, he was met with the pathetic sight of two unconscious teenagers on the floor, one sitting on a sink, and the other two, he suspected, were probably inside the stalls.

The air was polluted with smoke, which came as no surprise to the twenty-three year old turned teen, but what he didn't understand was why he saw no other sign of drug use in sight.

The one in the sink turned toward him belatedly, and Raito noted that the boy wasn't half as stoned as his friends were. His black hair reached his mid-neck with ragged-cut ends and his bangs covering the left half of his face were dyed blonde.

"And you are?"

Before he could answer, there was a loud sound of a flushing toilet and three, instead of two, of the stall doors were slammed open to reveal none other Sato Sato along with two other male students.

'_I guess Aiko-san was wrong. There are six not five.'_

One had his head hung low, making his shoulder-length coffee-colored hair conceal his face; the tips were dyed neon pink.

Further observation made it known to Raito that the other unknown student was the same person who had run into him the other the day. The one who had reminded him of L. He saw that his bangs were dyed as well, except white.

"Well, well, if it isn't Yagami Raito, golden boy and class favorite among his peers and professors alike. Never thought I'd see the likes of ya in a place like this," Sato drawled cynically slightly slurring his words.

"And why's that?" Raito questioned in a composed tone.

"Oh, I don't know," the teen tapped his chin and pretended to think, "maybe it's because you're always so goddamn _perfect_?"

"You sound jealous."

"Why you!" Sato shot back angrily.

"Oh, come on, Yoshi," the guy on the sink began as he hopped off it, "he hasn't done anything wrong." He sauntered over to Raito and offered a hand. "Why, hello there, gorgeous. I'm Cain."

It obviously wasn't his real name, but the daring glint in the other's eyes told Raito that he didn't want his real name to be revealed, which made him wonder what sort of business he was dealing with here as he shook the offered hand.

"Yagami Raito."

The other smirked slightly as he watched Raito shake his hand briskly before letting go. "Pleasure to meet you, _Raito-kun_."

Raito raised a brow at the 'Cain's' actions, unsure of what the other was trying to do.

"How'd you find this place anyway?" Sato before asked warily, "Nobody ever finds us here."

Raito shrugged, but in the back of his mind he scoffed. "Took a wrong turn."

"Oh," he replied dully.

"Wrong turn?" a voice from ahead spoke up. It was one of the guys on the floor; the both of them were now in a sitting position leaning against the tile wall and watching the scene before them with veiled eyes.

It was then, after making note of the identical set of faces and similar short and spiky ginger-colored hair that Raito noticed that they were twins. The only difference was the color dye. The one that had spoken before had dyed half of his hair orange, and the other had dyed the opposite half green.

"How very, very curious. Don't you agree, brother?" Green, Raito decided to call him, said.

"Indeed," Orange continued as if bored.

"What is your purpose here, Yagami-san?" Green inquired meeting Raito's reddish-brown eyes with his own murky hazel.

Raito shifted his gaze to each drug user discreetly, from Sato with his tousled purple streaks, to 'Cain' with his yellow bangs and the look alike L with his white ones, then to Pinkie, and lastly to Green and Orange.

"I-," Raito blinked, as his vision became blurred.

'_Did they drug me?'_

He took a step back and held his head with a hand before losing consciousness and falling.

'Cain', who was standing the closest, caught him easily. "Yoshi, you didn't slip him anything did you?"

"'Course not, 'ro!" Sato responded truthfully as he leaned over to stare at the unconscious teen. "Why would ya think that?"

"Well normal people don't just faint on a whim," Pinkie muttered under his breath.

"And you seem to have a grudge against him," the L look alike pointed out. He was staring at the unconscious teen with an odd gleam in his eyes.

"Maybe you scared him brother," Orange said while prodding his twin with his elbow. They had moved closer and joined the others in crowding the fallen student. "You can be pretty scary sometimes."

"Yagami-san does not seem the type to be frightened so easily," Green replied tilting his head to the side to stare more closely at Raito.

The six glanced at one another and then back down to the auburn-haired teen.

"He's really…" Sato trailed off not wanting to finish his sentence.

"…Attractive?" 'Cain' grinned knowingly and laughed at his friend's forlorn expression as the others nodded in agreement.

"Whatever," Sato muttered looking away.

"So what do we do with him?" Pinkie asked.

They pondered in silence until the L look alike spoke aloud.

"Can we keep him?"

-**x**-

It was two in the morning.

Watari watched L in concern as the detective dropped another cube of sugar into his coffee making the count twenty-three in total while gazing at his computer in earnest.

"Is something wrong L?"

Dark, almost black, gray eyes turn toward the older man in wonder. "Of course not, Watari. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seem…troubled," the elder admitted as he observed the detective bring the small glass cup to his lips and take a sip.

"Oh," a small smile began to form on the pale face, "I'm fine." L turned back to his computer and began typing.

The smile made Watari even more worried. If there were anyone in the world that knew L best, it would be him. And that smile was not one of happiness; it was more one of…anxiety.

"I am planning on going somewhere later today. Can you please set up transportation for me, Watari?"

"Where to, L?"

"A high school."

-**x**-

_Raito awoke to the familiar feeling of not knowing where he was, but with one small glance around the area, he concluded with disdain that he was in dreamland once again._

_Everything was a nostalgic white._

_The chain now free from its confinements in his blazer was just a sure reminder._

_Following the length of the metal with half-lidded eyes, he wasn't as surprised as he was before when seeing his other self wearing the same thing as he sitting next to him staring into space._

'**Hello again, Kira.'**

_This time, Raito could not hide the wince from his younger self._

'**What?' **_He tilted his head to the side with a slight smirk. _**'Don't like the name Kira anymore?'**

'**Why am I here?' **_Raito shot back but avoiding the prior question. _**'Come to give me more advice?'**

'**Do you plan on actually listening to me this time?' **

_Raito said nothing in reply only played with the metal cuff attached to his wrist. _

_He was looking at Raito now, staring at him with his own reddish-brown eyes. _**'I know you have not changed your mind. How is it that you still believe that you can purify this world? You're only human-'**

'**Why ask questions when you already know the answer?' **_Raito interrupted._

_His other self shook his head. _**'I can't read your mind here, Kira. Only when you're in the outside world or when I'm looking into your memories.'**

_Raito nodded in understanding. _**'Well, I might only be human…Light-san,' **_his past self quirked a brow at the name_**, 'but that doesn't mean that that fact alone can restrain what I can do. If you had the ability to change the world you would,' **_Raito looked over and gave a bitter smile_**, 'I should know. After all, I was you once.'**

'**Light-san?' **_The other Raito questioned._

'**I needed a way to distinguish the both of us. It's bizarre knowing that you're talking to yourself, but at the same time knowing that you're not that person anymore,' **_Raito divulged._

'**Aa. I didn't think of that,' **_Light replied curiously_**, 'But why '-san'?'**

'**Because you're a stranger to me now,' **_was Raito's cynical response. _

_Light almost laughed at the irony. _**'Then you have become a stranger to yourself.'**

_Raito nodded seriously not at all finding it funny. _**'That's the way it seems,' **_he looked over at Light in speculation_**, 'Tell me, Light-san. I've been thinking about it, but nothing seems to make sense. How exactly did I get here? Who or **_**what**_** for that matter sent me back?'**

_Light grinned uncharacteristically at the question. _**'I've been wondering when you'd ask.' **

_But before Raito could get an answer in return, he felt himself being woken once more, but this time back into reality, and all he could do was glare at his other self's grinning face as his vision began to blur._

-**x-**

"Guys, he's awake!"

There was a shuffling of footsteps, and Raito slowly opened his eyes and waited until they adjusted to the dim lighting in the room before looking around. It was then that he noticed the face only inches away from his. The other's startling eye color made him uncomfortable.

"Who are you?"

The person backed away and he saw that it was one of the drug users, the one with great similarity to L. "Where am I?" He asked cautiously as he gradually sat up to find that he was situated on a couch.

"I'm not allowed to say…" the other trailed off looking around at his surrounding companions whom Raito just noticed. They were all still wearing their school uniforms.

"Good job, Azuma, now he thinks we've kidnapped him," Sato, who was standing on the opposite side of the couch, bit out sarcastically.

Pinkie, Raito had dubbed him before, rolled his eyes. "_Good job, _Yoshi, now he knows his name. And second off, we kind of _did_ kidnap him," he turned to Raito, "You can call me Sam."

The twins stepped up beside him and bowed before introducing themselves. "I'm Fred," Green began. "And I'm George," Orange followed after.

Cain waved at him from his spot across from him.

"Why give me aliases?" Raito asked, "If we go to the same school, I can just as easily find out who you really are. What use is the secrecy?"

"First off, it's a precaution. We've learned not to give our names out freely," Cain replied, "And second off, it's an added bonus for being a club member."

"Alright, you've got me here, you've told me your fake names, so, now what? Are you going to kill me?" Raito asked with his poker face in check. Inside, a feeling of dread coiled around his gut.

"No, quite the opposite actually. We want you to join our club." Judging by the expressions on the other's faces, the six had discussed and agreed on the matter beforehand.

"I don't do drugs," Raito pointed out.

"You can start," Cain replied grinning.

"I don't plan to."

"Well, now you put us in a hard position. We're offering you a place within our group, and you refuse us. And now that you have been exposed to what we look like, we have no choice but to-"

"-kill me?"

Cain faltered, and Azuma took the time to intercede. "You don't seem to be too frightened of the idea." His voice betrayed his curiosity, underlined with an indecipherable intent.

"The idea of death?" the auburn haired student questioned, mostly to himself. Raito closed his eyes briefly, memories flashing vividly beneath eyelids without his consent. A black notebook. A pen. A name. A face. That was all he had ever needed in order to kill.

When he opened them again, he locked eyes with Azuma. The other had been studying him closely, his thumb raised to his lip in a thoughtful stance. Raito looked away.

"Of course I'm frightened by it. I'm only human." It was an ironic thing to say, especially since his past self had called him such in his dream.

"_Only human_," Azuma repeated slowly, tasting the words, before a small smile appeared on his face, "Is that what you are?" The look-alike chuckled to himself softly in amusement, as though he knew something no one else knew and said nothing more.

Unnerved, Raito turned to look back at Cain who had been observing the short exchange with something akin to apprehension. "You have yet to explain why you desire my membership in this so-called club of yours."

"Do we really need a reason?" Cain asked with a chipper voice, no trace of his former emotion. "Maybe we just like you!"

"Like me? You don't even _know _me," Raito ascertained with incredulity.

"We know enough," Sato piped up. Raito did not like the sound of that.

"I am not joining your club," he said with finality.

"Then you leave us with no choice," Cain put in. A look of mischief crossed his face and he turned toward the other members, "Why don't we all discuss what we should do with Yagami-san?"

Raito watched carefully as they all gathered in a far corner of the room, before taking a look around.

From what he could tell, it was a basement. The walls were brick, and the ceiling cemented. It was pretty spacious, enough room to fit in a couple of couches, a TV, and a refrigerator.

And there was a low open window right next to the couch. If worst came to worst, that was his first solution. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was already four in the morning. School would start in three hours.

Raito looked around beside him for his bag and found it on the floor next to his feet; he quickly grabbed it. _'I can't believe they didn't even hide this.'_

Suddenly, he felt eyes on him, and he turned quickly to the other males in the room only to see them look away. Unease quickly began to form.

'_What exactly have I gotten myself into?'_

They slowly broke apart from the small circle they had created and turned to face him; he instantly took note of a small box being carried by Sato.

'_Drugs…'_

"Okay, Yagami," Sato spoke with a devious smirk clearly evident on his pale face, "We will let you leave with your life, but under a few conditions."

"What…?" Raito asked guardedly.

"Well…" he drawled.

Narrowing his eyes Raito spoke indignantly, "If it has anything to do with that box you are holding, then no."

At first Cain looked surprised that he even noticed it and then shook it off just as quickly as his smile became just a tad darker. "Do you think you have a say in the matter?"

"Still not doing it."

"All you have to do is get stoned once, _just once_, and then we give you a dare and you have to fulfill it," Sam explained as if it was nothing.

Raito scoffed. "And what does this dare entail exactly? I'm not stupid enough to put myself in a life threatening situation." He eyed the window again. _'If any of these guys have the Death Note, then I'm in trouble...'_

"You're already in a life threatening situation," Fred pointed out.

'_They're still pretty far away. I can make a run for it, but I don't know my exact location and if I wander the streets for too long, they'll catch me.'_

"So you'd rather let us kill you?" George asked.

"Just do it, Yagami-san!" Azuma insisted with a touch of concern. Raito felt his gaze turn to him thoughtfully. _'This guy…'_

"What's the dare?"

"You have to jump off a building," Sam said bluntly.

Raito shot them all a skeptical look. "No."

"Not just any building, but the Police Headquarters," Fred informed him, "After you get on top of the building, one of us will alert the police of your intention. Then you'll jump off the building and into the net they have prepared, and you're free to go."

"That is…the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You actually expect me to comply with such terms?"

"No."

"Yes."

"That's the idea."

"Well, yeah."

"If you want to live."

"I would."

Everyone stared at Azuma, being the only one who said 'no', and watched as he blinked at them innocently. "I was being honest."

"So basically you want me to jump off of the police headquarters building because you believe that I would find it humiliating on account of my father being chief," Raito said as he slowly, and without detection, inched towards the window.

"So, your answer?" Cain asked, not denying it.

Raito shuffled his feet, readying himself to jump out the window, but he pretended to look at them with a calculating look before replying.

"Hell no."

And with that, he propelled himself from his spot on the couch and towards the window, successfully escaping the room's confinements. The others were too shocked to move at first, but seconds afterwards, sprinted after him.

Adrenaline fueled his every action. And he took only a moment to see that he ended up in an alleyway before running down it with great speed. Turning the corner and ending up on a sidewalk, he quickly looked at the street sign and saw that he was near the school.

Cursing, and hearing footsteps behind him, he sped up and turned left.

Raito stole a glance behind him and saw that his pursuers were meters behind him, Fred and George leading the pack.

'_I can't keep this speed up for long. Hopefully a car will pass by and I can ask them for help.'_

The chase continued for twenty more minutes, before Raito began to lose his breath. After going at an all out sprint for so long and without practice, he wasn't surprised. And there was the fact that he was giving himself unnecessary strains by making his body move as though he was still twenty-three and not seventeen.

And they were just getting closer.

'_Now what?'_

And like a beacon of light, a pair of headlights came into view and he swiftly detoured towards it waving his arms to stop the car from going any further. If he had taken a moment to glance at the car, he would have noticed a certain familiarity and run the other way.

The brakes were heard screeching, and Raito let out a sigh of relief when one of the passenger doors opened. He quickly entered the vehicle, closing the door behind him; he didn't breathe at all until he heard the car moving once more.

Eyes closed and taking slow, deep breaths, he didn't even think once of who was in the car with him, until a deathly recognizable voice spoke up in alarm.

"Yagami-kun?"

Raito froze on spot, but his thoughts were racing. _'Fucking coincidences...'_

Knowing that it was inevitable, but still dreading every second of it, he unhurriedly opened his eyes only to spot L sitting on his toes with his knees meeting his chest like Raito knew he always did.

"Ah!" He said in a pretend relieved yet shocked voice. "You're the man who called the ambulance at the café!"

L nodded slowly, still staring curiously at Raito with his wide eyes. "Whom were you running from?"

"Classmates. We had…a disagreement," Raito answered cryptically refusing to meet the other's eyes as he stared at the driver's seat before him. _'Watari is driving this car…Out of all the cars in Japan that could have passed by it just had to be __**this**__ car. Why are they in my school area anyway?'_

"Those classmates of yours were holding knives, Yagami-kun."

"Yes they were." _'Hm. If they were really planning on killing me, and one of them had the Death Note, then that person would not have run after me...he would have killed me instantly instead. I haven't gotten anywhere.'_

"It must have been one serious disagreement," L said indifferently.

"That it was," Raito answered, not giving anything away. _'He is not getting anything out of me.'_

L quickly caught on to Raito's evasive behavior and changed the subject. "Where would you like us to drop you off? My driver, William, won't mind."

'_L was very cautious with names even before the Kira case, it seems.' _"My house, please," he told them his address. _'Watari might already be an alias, but since that is the name of the man who assists the detective, L, he doesn't want the two to be linked back to him. Speaking of which, I wonder what name he'll give me this time.'_

"I forgot to ask you before, but what is your name?" Raito asked in an all-innocent tone.

The detective's gaze was unwavering. "Hideki Ryuga."

'_Ah, the movie star pseudonym. I thought he had only used that because Kira needed a name and a face, and I could not help but picture the actor when writing down the name.' _

"It's a pleasure to formally meet you, Hideki-san. This would be the second time you've helped me. Thank you."

"You're welcome," there was a slight pause before L went right to the point of his interest, "Not to seem rude, Yagami-kun, but you don't seem the type to run away from a fight."

Raito looked at him in question. "You barely even know me. How would you be able to decipher my type by a mere passing of words?"

L smiled as if humored. "I'm very good at reading people."

"I see. Well, you're right," he locked eyes with the detective, "I'm not one to run. But unnecessary conflict is troublesome. And being as I was in a tricky situation, I avoided it."

"So you took the easy way out?" _'Another interrogation in disguise as conversation.'_

"I value my life more than my pride," was Raito's answer.

"Then you are a smart man," L replied grabbing a plastic bag next to him filled with sweets and opening a package inside. He looked pointedly at Raito's left arm and cocked his head to the side. "Yagami-kun, do you normally wear handcuffs as an accessory?"

'_Of all the damn things…'_

Raito looked down at his arm to find that the chain had unraveled itself at some point during the chase and was now hanging limply at his side. He never wanted more than to smack himself in the head. "No, my classmates thought it amusing."

Before he could stop him, L had reached over Raito's side and had the chain close in observation. "Interesting. You say those guys chasing you did it?"

"Yes." _'Shit. What if that chain is specially made by L, and him alone?'_

"We must have gotten it at the same place then," L said softly, "I own an exact replica."

'_He knows. He knows. He knows. How am I supposed to explain this one?'_

"For what reason would you need handcuffs for?" Raito inquired in hopes of getting L on the spot.

"Amusement," he simply replied while dropping a pink candy into his mouth.

Raito turned to look out the window and saw that they were nearing his house. "You wouldn't happen to own the key then would you? I'd rather not walk around with this on."

"How unlucky. I did not bring it with me. Perhaps, I can drop it off another time," L offered. But, Raito got the idea he would not be seeing that key any time soon.

'_Wonderful. More quality time with the person I'd most like to avoid.'_

"That would be very helpful, thanks." The car came to a stop at his home and Raito moved to open the door as L dropped the chain. "You know where I live, so stop by anytime you'd like. Goodbye, Hideki-san."

L nodded in parting and watched as the teen closed the door and walked to the front of his house before the front door opened and a frantic mother let him in.

Watari started the car again. "L, who was that young man?"

The dark-haired man shook his head. "I'm not sure yet…but, his name is Yagami Raito."

"The chief of police's son?"

L nodded, but he wasn't really paying attention. _'Those handcuffs…they were made especially by Watari for special cases. How is it that Yagami Raito is in possession of them? Impossible.'_

"Do you still want to go to the high school?" Watari asked.

"Yes. There's something I need to look into."

-**x-**

As soon as the door closed behind him, Raito mentally prepared himself for the onslaught.

"Raito! Where were you?" Sachiko questioned in a loud and panicked voice. "It's five in the morning! You didn't come home from school, and you didn't call to tell us you were okay!"

Sayu was tearing up beside her mother. "We thought you were dead, Onii-chan! Like those two girls from your school!"

Raito was frozen in momentary silence as he watched his mother and sister do a combination of crying and yelling all at once.

'_This is…'_

"You are so inconsiderate, Onii-chan!!" "Raito, you worried us so much!"

'_Is this how they reacted when I…when I died?' _He remembered not caring much for his family. He remembered using them selfishly as Kira. He remembered…almost writing down his father's name in the Death Note…

The hysterical crying continued and the two females latched on to his body in a tight hug.

'_I'm sorry…'_

"I'm so sorry._"_

_

* * *

AN: _Continuing his search for the Death Note, Raito is confronted by a suspect, which leads to a daring escape, followed up by an unintentional rescue by none other than L. The question is though, who really sent Raito back? And what shall L do with the bewildering information he has discovered?

_Next chapter: _Stalking club members, disguised detectives, and one very confused Raito.

L is for love. And love is for reviews.


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